


colour in your cheeks

by warriorqueenclarke



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Smut, all in the same fic, every trope you could imagine, literally every fucking trope guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-10
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-11 11:59:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3326543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warriorqueenclarke/pseuds/warriorqueenclarke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>God, does this mean he actually likes her?<br/>No. It must just be the threat of hypothermia and the fact that she's in her underwear.</p><p>(set after 1x07)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. do i wanna know

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know exactly where this came from but it's here now so let's just enjoy it and not question its origins  
> (i know it's a 'we have to cuddle so we don't get hypothermia' fic AND a 'stuck in a confined space' au i am absolute trash but it's okay i've come to terms with it)

Bellamy doesn't exactly understand how he keeps getting himself in these situations, but he's starting to think the universe is out to get him, because really, this is fucking ridiculous.

He's stuck in the car with Clarke because they happened to be hunting when it started pouring down with rain. Both of them are completely drenched, and this storm is showing no signs of letting up, so Clarke won't let them head back to camp because it's 'dangerous' outside.

Seriously, who else does this kind of shit happen to but him?

"We should just make a run for it," Bellamy says. "This storm could go on for ages, and it's nearly nighttime."

"Bellamy, it's a hurricane," Clarke says. "If we go outside, we could be killed."

He blinks. "And?"

She looks like she's trying to roll her eyes at him, but it has little to no effect because she's shaking like a damn leaf.

"You okay?" he asks gruffly.

"Yeah," she says. "I'm just sort of worried."

"We'll be fine down here," he says. "It's secure enough."

"That's not what I mean. Our clothes are soaked and there's no chance of building a fire."

"So?"

"We could get hypothermia. Prolonged exposure to temperatures this low... it can kill people."

Now that she mentions it, Bellamy feels pretty cold. In fact, his whole body is starting to shake.

"How do we stop it?" he asks. He saw a blanket somewhere around here but he's not sure that'll be enough.

Clarke doesn't respond, and for a moment he wonders if her teeth are chattering so bad that she's having trouble getting words out, but then he sees the hint of red in both her cheeks.

"We, um," she says. "We have to take off the wet clothes and, um. Y'know, share body heat."

Bellamy straightens. "Right," he says, with a cough.

He doesn't know why the thought makes him feel so strange. He's not ashamed of his body or anything, and he's taken off his clothes in front of plenty of women before.

 _Not Clarke, though,_ he thinks.

He doesn't really want to go in depth on why it matters that it's Clarke rather than anyone else, because now is not the time, so he just powers through the nervousness and starts peeling off his shirt. Clarke's eyes go wide and she takes a step back.

"Come on, princess," he says, throwing the soaked garment to the ground and starting to take off his shoes. "Don't get all shy on me now. Just imagine I'm Finn."

She doesn't even say anything, just sucks in a breath and frowns. Bellamy makes a note to not bring that up again. It's obviously too much of a sore spot now that Raven's back, and for some reason, seeing that hurt, embarrassed look on Clarke's isn't as fun as it used to be. It just makes something in his gut twist unpleasantly.

Clarke shrugs off her jacket and kicks off her shoes as he starts taking off his pants, and it all feels too much like they're about to fuck against a wall or something - and jesus, if it weren't for the freezing cold, that thought would be putting Bellamy in some serious trouble right about now - so he focuses on steadying his hands long enough to finish getting undressed, because he's really shaking now. He's just thrown his pants across the room when Clarke starts taking off her shirt, and he really doesn't mean to stare, because as much as they don't always get along, he still has a sort of grudging respect for her, but. Well. She's kind of hot.

Bellamy almost swears out loud, because where the fuck did _that_ come from, when did he start thinking of Clarke as anything other than a pain in his ass and a sort-of-maybe-kind-of friend?

He doesn't have time to answer that question - thank god - because he's just noticed that her hands are shaking even more than his, and she's struggling to pull down her pants, so without even thinking, he walks over. She freezes when she notices him in front of her, and her eyes follow him as he gently tugs her waistband down, fingertips brushing skin as he pulls the pants all the way down her legs. She steps out of them when they're at her feet, and he just sort of kneels in front of her for a moment, looking into her eyes and wondering if she's got this same tight feeling in her stomach.

But then it's all a bit too weird and he stands up, not really sure how to proceed. If it were anyone else, he'd just get on with it, but again, it's Clarke, and he sort of feels like he should be more delicate about it.

"What do we do now?" he asks, feeling like a fourteen year old boy.

"I guess we just, uh, get this," she says, shouldering past him to grab the blanket he'd seen earlier, "and sort of... lie down next to each other."

"Will that be enough?" Bellamy asks.

"If we get close enough, it should be," she says. "If it's not, we're in a lot of trouble."

Clarke is the first to lie down, and Bellamy follows soon after, trying to convince himself that this is no big deal as she throws the blanket over them. He gets in close beside her, and when she turns onto her side, he does too, fitting his body to hers carefully, so he doesn't cross any lines or make her feel uncomfortable. He can already feel the warmth spreading, and it's so nice that he puts his hand on her waist without even thinking and pulls her closer to him. She tenses, which puts him on edge, making him wonder if he should just leave the car now and risk the hypothermia, but then she's relaxing a moment later, and her hand is pulling his arm further across her body so that he's holding onto her torso tightly. She sighs a little, but in a nice, content way, in a way that Bellamy's never heard her sigh before.

In seconds, she's melted into this calm, relaxed, warm person that Bellamy thinks he might like a bit more than he should. Not that he doesn't appreciate regular, fiery, charge-taking Clarke, even if she does drive him up the wall sometimes with her whole self-righteous act. God, does this mean he actually properly likes her?

No. It must just be the threat of hypothermia and the fact that they're both in their underwear.

~ ~ ~

Bellamy wakes up feeling better than he has in a while, nestled in close to Clarke with his leg hitched over hers and his nose buried in her hair. It takes him a moment to register that the rain has stopped and it's considerably warmer in the car, which means they don't really have to do this anymore.

But the thing is, Clarke is snoring softly and her hair smells really good - which doesn't make sense because nobody's had access to shampoo or soap, so maybe her hair just naturally smells nice - and Bellamy honestly doesn't want to move right now. 

So he doesn't.

They stay like that for a while, and at some point Clarke wakes up, yawning and sitting up slightly, but then after a pause she lies back down and sidles in closer to Bellamy, and he's smirking a bit, because he knew that she was enjoying this whole arrangement just as much as him.

But at a certain point, they both have to get up, and when they do, there's no acknowledgement of what's happened or how surprisingly pleasant and comfortable it was, there's just a lot of awkward eye contact and hasty putting on of clothes.

They walk back to camp in silence, and when they arrive and Finn and Octavia ask them where they were all night, they just say they got caught in the storm and spent the night in the car. No need to excite everyone with the details, even if Bellamy would sort of love to see the look on Finn's face when he found out that they'd spent the night cuddled up to each other in their underwear.

Not that Finn would have anything to be jealous of. It was for their health. They had no choice. Obviously.

~ ~ ~

About a week later, Bellamy and Jasper are sharpening knives next to Octavia and Miller, who are sorting out who all the washing belongs to. They can't really clean people's clothes properly, but they can soak stuff in the river and dry it in the sun.

"I'm pretty sure this is Clarke's," Octavia says, holding up a white bra.

"No it's not," Bellamy says without thinking. "Hers is black."

Jasper almost slices his finger off.

"I'm sorry, _what_?" he exclaims.

Bellamy freezes, not knowing if he should lie or just say nothing, but before he can decide, Clarke is walking over.

"Clarke," Octavia says with a hint of a smirk, "how does Bellamy know what colour bra you wear?"

Clarke looks at Bellamy, eyes wide. They haven't spoken about what happened since they got back, and even though they've tried to continue on normally, something's been different, he can feel it. And now people are probably thinking they've slept together, which is just fucking great.

He looks at her, trying to communicate that it's up to her to decide what to tell them. She nods, ever so slightly, and opens her mouth to say something, but then Raven and Finn walk up, arms around each other.

"What's up with you guys?" Raven asks after seeing the expressions on all their faces.

"We're trying to figure out how Bellamy knows what colour bra Clarke wears," Octavia says, enjoying this way too much. Bellamy is going to _kill_ her when this is over.

Finn looks at Clarke, frowning slightly, and Bellamy knows he's thinking that this must be some misunderstanding, that it's not what everyone thinks, because Finn knows Clarke so well and she would never do that. But Bellamy thinks he knows Clarke pretty well himself, knows that right about now she's feeling a little spiteful about Finn failing to mention that he had a girlfriend this whole time, and it sort of scares Bellamy that he knows what Clarke's going to do before she even does it.

"That's really not anyone's business but mine and Bellamy's," she says calmly.

Then she walks off, and Bellamy doesn't even try to keep the smirk off his face, because the look on Finn's face really is priceless.


	2. have you no idea that you're in deep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so a couple people asked for another chapter, and i sort of just went with it, and now there's this?

"So," a voice says from behind Clarke. "Bellamy, huh?"

She's in her tent, hiding away from everyone. It's been barely an hour since she decided to let people believe something had happened between her and Bellamy, and she's already regretting it. It was stupid and spiteful and wrong. But now she has to deal with the consequences, and she knew this would be one of them.

Clarke sighs and turns around to face Finn. "I meant what I said. This is none of your business."

"Like hell it isn't," he says. "If you're just going to pretend that there's nothing between us-"

"There isn't," she says firmly.

"What are you doing, Clarke?" Finn asks. "You're lying to me, you're lying to yourself, you're rebounding with _Bellamy_ of all people-"

"Stop!" Clarke shouts. "Stop, okay? First of all, you have no idea what you're talking about. Secondly, you lost all right to judge me for _anything_ when you slept with me and failed to mention that you had a girlfriend."

"You know how sorry I am about that," he says. "I thought I'd never see her again. I thought I'd lost her."

"Finn, I don't wanna fight with you," she says. "But you need to leave me alone for a bit, okay?"

"Why?" he asks. "So you can pretend that you don't have feelings for me?"

"Finn, what you did... I don't know if I can get over that. And besides, you're with Raven now anyway, and that's good. It'll be like it never happened."

"But it did," Finn says, stepping closer to Clarke. "We both know that it did."

"Then we'll just have to live with that," she says. "That's what happens when you do the wrong thing. You have to live with it."

And then she leaves before he can say anything else.

~ ~ ~

By the end of the week, everyone in the camp thinks that Bellamy and Clarke have slept together, and Clarke sort of wants to die. She can barely even look at him most of the time, and she's been throwing herself into hunting and gathering and stocking up for winter to distract herself from the disaster that her life has become.

Even worse, girls keep coming up to ask 'how he was', and she just has no idea how to respond to that. Just the thought of sex with Bellamy makes her stomach go tight and her heart start racing, and she's not even going to _try_ to figure out what that means, because she's pretty sure she knows what conclusion she would come to and she's certain she wouldn't like it.

~ ~ ~

Clarke is in the dropship sorting through the limited medicines she's managed to salvage from plants in the forest when Bellamy comes in and walks up to her. Neither of them say anything for a while, so she just keeps working while he watches.

"The camp's going crazy," he says finally.

"You'd think they'd be more worried about the grounders or not having enough food for the winter than who slept with who," she says. Then she straightens, realising what she's said. "Not that we..."

"Right," he says. "They just all think we have."

"I'm sorry," she says. "I know... I know I messed up. Really bad. I should have just told them what actually happened or made something up. I was pissed at Finn and I just wanted..."

"To get back at him," Bellamy finishes. "I understand. And you don't need to apologise. If anything, this makes me like you more."

Clarke laughs. "Still. I shouldn't have done it."

"You're not hurting anybody," he says.

"Except Finn," she says.

"Wasn't that the whole point?"

"I didn't want to hurt him, I just wanted to piss him off a bit."

"You got him back for what he did to you," Bellamy says with a shrug. "You're even now."

"He was my first," Clarke says quietly. She has no idea why she's telling him this. "He was - I thought it actually meant something. And now I have to see him with Raven every single day. I wouldn't exactly call it even."

He shifts from foot to foot, frowning slightly, but says nothing. She turns back to her work, and a moment later, he leaves.

_God, this is such a mess,_ she thinks, putting her head in her hands.

~ ~ ~

Talk about Clarke's supposed 'night of passion' with Bellamy has died down by the end of the week, and she is looking forward to things going back to normal and never, _ever_ having to talk about this again. They're having a big party, with a bonfire and a new batch of moonshine, to celebrate three weeks with no grounder attacks. Clarke's trying not to worry about the fact that there's a good chance the grounders have been waiting for them to relax and get drunk before they attack, but since she's stone cold sober, it's sort of all she can think about until Octavia pulls her aside.

"I just wanted to say," Octavia says, speech slightly slurred, "that I'm _so_ glad that you and Bell hooked up. Like, there was just so much tension there, it had to happen sooner or later, right?"

Clarke is quite literally speechless.

"Anyway," Octavia continues. "Good for you, Clarke! I really hope it helped you get over Finn, 'cause that whole mess was just getting sad, y'know what I mean?"

"Okay, O, I think you've had enough," Bellamy says, walking up and putting his hand on Octavia's shoulder.

"Not even," Octavia says, shrugging him off. "In fact, I'm gonna go get some more."

She walks off in the general direction of the bonfire, not exactly staggering but not walking too straight either. Clarke smiles a little, because at least someone's having fun.

Bellamy looks at her. "You're not drinking?"

She shakes her head. "On watch for grounders."

"Who asked you to do that?"

"No-one, but it'd suck pretty hard if we got attacked by grounders at our 'we haven't been attacked by grounders for three weeks' party."

"Fair point," he says, "but why not get someone else to do it?"

"They deserve a break," she says. "I don't wanna ruin their fun."

"This may seem like a crazy concept to you, Clarke, but you deserve a break too every now and again."

She sighs, and Bellamy nudges her lightly in the shoulder with his elbow. She looks at him, his face half lit by the bonfire in the distance, the side of his mouth quirked slightly like he's in on some joke she doesn't get. She stares at him for a little longer than necessary before turning back to the fire.

She expects him to leave, but he just sort of stays there, even strikes up conversation with her after a while. They spend the rest of the night talking, about the grounders and earth and the ark and their families, watching as the fire dies out and people head to bed, and by the time they say goodnight, Clarke's got this feeling of warmth all over her that has nothing to do with the bonfire.

~ ~ ~

A few days later, Clarke is sitting around with Bellamy, Jasper, Octavia, Finn, Raven and Monty. They were supposed to be discussing food distribution or something like that, but it's such a lovely day that the conversation's kind of tapered off, so now Clarke's just bathing in the sunlight and kind of absently listening to Monty and Jasper intently discuss a whole lot of trivial crap.

"Okay, if Clarke's our princess, who's our prince?" Jasper asks.

"Bellamy, obviously," Monty says.

"Clarke and Bellamy, rulers of the hundred," Jasper says in a deep voice, sticking his arms out. "I like that."

"They'd have to be married, though," Monty points out. Clarke swallows. "Prince and princess."

Finn scoffs, and Clarke looks at him for the first time in twenty minutes. She's been averting her gaze from him because Raven's on his lap and every few seconds one of them will kiss the other, on the lips or the forehead or wherever else, and even the sound of it is enough to make her want to scream.

"What?" Octavia asks. "You wanna step up and be the prince?"

"He couldn't handle it," Bellamy says.

"What, like you would do such a good job?" Finn asks.

"Not would," Octavia says. "He is doing a good job."

"He wouldn't be if he was married to Clarke."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bellamy asks, sitting up in his chair and glaring at Finn.

Finn rolls his eyes. "I mean, hypothetically, if you two got married - which you never would, obviously... it'd be a disaster. You couldn't last a week without ripping each other's heads off."

"You don't know anything about us," Bellamy says, and Clarke is a little taken aback - and sort of flattered - by the protective, slightly angry tone in his voice.

"'Us'?" Octavia repeats. "What, are you two together now or something?" Jasper asks jokingly.

Bellamy looks at Clarke for a second, the way she'd looked at him the day she started this whole damn thing, and then turns to Finn. "So what if we are?"

That shuts everyone up.


	3. we could be together (if you wanted to)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't know what i'm doing, tbh, but i'm definitely doing something, and it's definitely not finished. i'm guessing this gonna be at least five-parter?

"What," Clarke says as soon as she's pulled Bellamy away from the group and into her tent, "was _that?"_

He doesn't say anything, just starts pacing.

"Bellamy, now they all think-"

"I know what they think," he interrupts.

He really only has himself to blame here. Honestly, implying that he and Clarke are together? Where the hell did that come from? Sure, he was irritated that Finn was saying all that stuff about him and making assumptions, and Clarke was looking at Finn and Raven with this pained expression that made Bellamy want to punch someone, and yeah, maybe he's just now realising that he sort of  _wanted_ to tell people they were together, but he can't exactly tell her that, can he? _  
_

"So, what, am I supposed to go along with this?" Clarke asks.

"I don't know," he says. "No, not if... not if you don't want to."

"I just - I don't get why you said it."

"I was just annoyed," he says. "I don't like it when people make assumptions about me, and - we're a good fucking team, okay? We're good at being the leaders."

Clarke's grinning a little.

"What?" Bellamy says, sharper than he means to be.

"Sorry," she says, but the grin isn't gone. "It's just... it's just funny to see you so riled up about something so trivial."

"It's not trivial, he was contesting my leadership," Bellamy says with a growl.

"They were talking about us being prince and princess," Clarke says. "It was hypothetical." She's giggling now, but trying to hide it with a hand over her mouth.

"This isn't funny!" he whisper-shouts, suddenly aware that people can hear them.

"It's a little bit funny."

He waits for her laughter to die down, which takes a while, because every time she looks at him, she starts giggling again.

"We need to figure out what we're gonna do," Bellamy says.

"Okay," Clarke says. "Um, we could tell them the truth, the whole truth. Like, starting with what happened in the car."

"They'd get mad and the whole camp would lose respect for us for lying," Bellamy says, which might be a bit of an overstatement, but he really doesn't want to have to tell everyone the truth, because it's sort of a stupid bunch of lies they've gotten themselves tangled in.

"We could just not talk about it to anyone and wait for everyone to forget about it," Clarke suggests.

"Octavia forgets nothing," Bellamy says darkly.

"Then we could... I guess, just pretend that we're together?" His throat dries up almost immediately.

He has definitely not thought this through. "I guess... if there's nothing else we can do."

"Okay," she says, looking at her feet. "Uh, well, we'll just... do that."

"Sounds good," he says. "I mean, not good - not bad, but... manageable."

"Right," she says. "Manageable."

They stand there awkwardly for a little while longer, and then Bellamy sort of half waves goodbye - which he has never done before in his _life_ \- and exits the tent.

~ ~ ~

The thing is, Bellamy's never been in an actual relationship, let alone a fake one, so he's not exactly sure how to act. He's seen how Raven and Finn act, but he's not about to start modeling his relationship - _fake_ relationship - on theirs, and he's seen married couples on the ark, but he doesn't know where he and Clarke fit into all that. And it's even more complicated because of how he's been feeling around her lately.

He wouldn't be bothered if it was just basic attraction, because he's dealt with that before, but it feels like it's more than that. He knows that Clarke is attractive, but he also knows that she's smart and strong and a good leader, and stubborn and a fighter, like he is. He feels comfortable around her, he feels protective of her, he feels a lot of damn things that he doesn't want to feel, and normally he'd just avoid her for a few weeks and wait for it to pass, but he's sort of fucked himself over in that regard.

Essentially, this all leaves him in an even worse position, because even though he knows that if he put his arm around her or held her hand, she'd just assume it was for appearances, he's still worried that she'd know, somehow, like the feel of his hand or the look in his eye would give him away. He's always been good at hiding his feelings, but this is an entirely different kind of feeling, and if she finds out and starts thinking that this has all been some creepy plan to get closer to her, then he'll lose her.

And there's also a good chance she'd punch him in the face.

~ ~ ~

It's been a few days, and aside from a grilling from Octavia and the occasional sharp look from Finn, it's all been going fine on the 'pretending to date Clarke' front. That is, Bellamy's sort of been acting the exact same as before and hoping that'll convince people to butt the hell out.

It's lunchtime, and he, Clarke and Miller are sitting in front of the dropship eating some sort of roasted animal, he's not sure exactly what it is. Miller's talking about a breach in the fence or something when someone calls for him at the gate.

"I think people are getting suspicious," Clarke says quietly once Miller's left.

"What do you mean?" Bellamy asks.

"Well, we don't really look like a couple, do we?" she says, gesturing to the gap between the two of them and the way they're sitting kind of stiffly, legs angled away from each other. "If we're gonna do this, we might as well make it believable."

And Bellamy figures she's right. Besides, she's the one who brought it up, so he won't be accused of suggesting it with ulterior motives. He gestures for her to sit closer to him, and when she does, he puts his arm around her shoulder as casually as possible. It's only awkward for a second, and then she's leaning into him, resting her head on his shoulder.

A couple of people stare or give them glances, but Bellamy doesn't give a shit, really, because even if it's fake, even if he knows that she doesn't mean it, being close to her... it's good. Really damn good.

~ ~ ~

A few days later, Bellamy and Clarke are out hunting, Octavia and Jasper a fair way behind them, and for the past half an hour, Bellamy and Clarke have been arguing - well. Bickering. That's what it is, really.

"You're a crap shot," he says.

"I am not," she grumbles.

"Clarke, come on," he says. "You nearly hit Jasper before 'cause your aim was so off."

"I didn't!" she insists. She looks back at Jasper. "It was nowhere near you, right?"

"Uh, yeah," he calls out unconvincingly.

Bellamy chuckles.

"Well, you need me here anyway, because you can't track for shit," she says.

"Wow, bringing out the swear words, are we princess?"

She opens her mouth to retort, but then there's a noise behind them. They both turn around to see that Octavia has shot a deer.

"Nice one, O," Bellamy says, walking down to meet her. Jasper's already there, helping her take out the arrow and inspect the carcass, and Bellamy's so excited at the prospect of eating deer - they haven't caught one in weeks - that he doesn't even realise Clarke's gone until he's a few feet away from the others.

He turns around, searching the woods for any sign of her.

"Clarke?" he calls out.

Then there's a loud snap and a scream. His heart almost stops.

"Clarke!"

And then Bellamy's sprinting through the woods, leaping over fallen logs and branches, heading in the direction the scream came from. There's no sign of her, and he's scared, he's so fucking scared that he's lost her, that she's been hit by a grounder or fallen into a trap -

But then she's there all of a sudden, no visible wounds, running towards him. He reaches her, and before he can even think about it, he's grabbing her and pressing his lips to hers, and then hoisting her up so her legs wrap around his waist. All he feels is relief and happiness and the warmth from her lips, and the kiss lasts longer than it should but Bellamy doesn't care, because he never wants to let go of her, never wants to feel that kind of panic ever again.

Eventually he pulls away, but he doesn't let her down, doesn't really think he can in his current state.

"I thought I saw a hog or something," Clarke says, "and I went looking for it, but I got caught in a grounder trap. I'm fine, I cut myself out."

"Don't ever do that again," Bellamy says, trying and failing to keep the emotion out of his voice. "You scared the shit out of me."

"Sorry," she says, smiling a little. She looks at his lips, like she's thinking about kissing him again, and he is all too happy to oblige, but then there's a distinctly Octavia-like cough behind them, and Bellamy gently puts down Clarke and turns around. His sister is standing there, trademark Blake smirk on her face and a sword in her hand.

"Didn't mean to interrupt," she says, even though she clearly did.

"We should head back," Bellamy says, pushing past Octavia.

He walks through the woods with Clarke in silence, and when she slips her hand into his, he squeezes it tightly and doesn't let go until they're back at camp.


	4. i dreamt about you nearly every night this week

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember when this was just supposed to be a oneshot?

Clarke can't sleep.

And it's not because she's worried about grounders, or her mother, or the ark. It's because of Bellamy.

Ever since that kiss in the woods, things have been different between them. Something's shifted, and Clarke doesn't know if she likes it or not. She always knew this was going to be difficult, but she didn't realise that her feelings were going to be the biggest problem.

Because really, that kiss. She can't stop thinking about it, can't stop touching her lips and replaying it in her head to prove to herself that it actually happened. Since then, every touch between them, even a simple brush of his fingers on her arm, has put her on edge. And it only recently occurred to her what that means.

She has feelings for Bellamy Blake. Feelings that are distinctly _not_ hatred or annoyance, or even slight admiration tinged with hatred or annoyance. They're proper feelings, like the ones she has - had? - for Finn.

In any case, they're definitely feelings, feelings that are keeping her awake, because how is she supposed to deal with this? It's uncharted territory for her. With Finn, at least she knew - or thought, anyway - that it wasn't just her. And even if it had been one-sided, she wasn't pretending to be in a relationship with Finn. She didn't have to hold his hand or field questions about their non-existent sex life.

The thing is, Clarke's not so sure she can hide said feelings much longer. Granted, she only really realised she had them when Bellamy kissed her in the woods, but the few days since then have been torture. She's bad at this, she's bad at going on like everything's fine. But what other option does she have, really? She can't tell him, and she can't just call it off all of a sudden, not after that kiss in the woods and all the hand holding. People would know something was up, and then they'd have to explain everything, and that would just be embarrassing.

She just has to persevere, and then she'll be fine. The feelings will probably disappear within a couple of days.

~ ~ ~

As it turns out, they don't.

Every day Bellamy's more touchy with her, holding her closer and more often, even kissing her a few more times when the situation calls for it, and every day the lines between real and fake just seem more and more blurred, to the point where she almost tells him that she wants a real relationship, because she's so sure from the way he's acting that he wants it too.

But no. She's a deluded little girl with a stupid crush. He'd laugh if he ever found out.

(Maybe not to her face, but still.)

~ ~ ~

One night, it's just Clarke and Bellamy on watch - they're alone together despite Jasper's fears of being killed by grounders because 'our leaders can't keep it in their pants long enough to warn us about an attack' - and they're surprisingly quiet. It's strange. Even before this whole thing started, they've always had a lot to talk about, even if the topic wasn't always pleasant.

So all Clarke has to focus on is trying not to look at Bellamy too much and... well, being on watch. The thing is, though, that it's becoming increasingly harder not to look at him, because she can feel his eyes on her, and she doesn't know why, doesn't know if he's got something on his mind or if she's got something on her face, but it's sort of getting irritating, so much so that eventually, she decides to just look right back at him.

"Everything okay?" she asks.

"Yeah," he says, the deep frown on his face contradicting his answer. "Just..."

There's a moment where Clarke is actually properly scared that he's going to say he doesn't want to do this whole pretend relationship thing anymore, that he's going to call it off and she's going to be left with these damn feelings for him and no idea what to do about them.

"It's fine," he says, and he turns back to face the woods.

It's quite obviously not, but he hasn't called it off and Clarke still has an excuse to be near him that doesn't involve her stupid schoolgirl crush, so she lets it slide and counts down the minutes till she can head back to her tent for another night of not sleeping.

~ ~ ~

The next morning, she and Octavia are collecting clothes to wash at the river.

"How's it going with my brother?" Octavia asks, but for once, it doesn't seem to be a joke.

"Good," Clarke says. "Yeah, really good."

Octavia nods. "That's good."

They walk for a little longer in silence.

"He's never done this kind of thing before," Octavia says eventually. "He's never stuck to just one girl for so long. Honestly, I didn't get why it was you at first. No offense or anything, it's just - well, you hated each other not too long ago."

"Yeah," Clarke says, looking at her feet.

"I guess that's what makes it that much better," Octavia says. "Going from hate to love or whatever."

Octavia must notice the look on Clark's face, because she laughs.

"So," she says, "'l' word hasn't come into play yet?"

Clarke shakes her head.

Octavia smiles. "Well, if I'm right, and I am, it will soon. Trust me. I can read Bell better than anyone."

Clarke just puts on a large smile, praying Octavia doesn't completely see through it.

~ ~ ~

"You know," Bellamy says to Clarke one day, right in her ear because people are nearby, "we should probably start sleeping in the same tent."

"Huh?" is her incredibly prolific and eloquent answer.

"People expect us to sleep in the same tent," he elaborates.

"Right," she says, a little lightheaded at the thought of sharing a tent with him, which is sort of ridiculous, because they once spent a night cuddled up to each other in their underwear. "Um. Whose tent?"

"Mine is bigger," he says.

"Mine is nicer," she counters.

He snorts. "Nicer?"

"I've seen your tent, Bellamy. Trust me, mine is nicer."

"Okay, well, you can just... make mine nice, okay?"

He kisses her on the forehead because people are watching - she's been doing that lately, reminding herself whenever he's affectionate with her that it's just for appearances, to try and keep herself from reading into everything he does - and walks off.

 _Fake, fake, fake,_ she thinks as she watches him go. _It's all fake._

~ ~ ~

Despite being incredibly exhausted - someone got a nasty cut while out hunting and she had to spend most of the day trying to stop the bleeding before another person died because of her incompetence - Clarke is delaying going to bed. It's just that sharing a tent with Bellamy is so domestic, even if they're not sharing a bed - he volunteered to sleep on a blanket on the ground, and even though she felt like she should be the one to do it, he insisted - and everyone knows about it and they're taking it as like, the next step in Clarke and Bellamy's relationship or something stupid like that, like they're actually getting serious now because they're sharing a tent. It's sort of ridiculous, and what's even more ridiculous is that Clarke likes the thought of that, of her and Bellamy being serious, but they're _not_ because it's not _real_ , and she _really_ needs to stop letting these trains of thought get so out of hand.

So she's sitting up with Jasper and Monty, having promised to go on watch with them, and trying desperately to keep her eyes open.

"Clarke," Monty says, "are you sure you don't want to go to bed? You look tired."

"We're all tired," she says. "I'm fine."

"We'll be okay on our own," Jasper says. "You should go to your tent - sorry, _Bellamy's tent_."

She shoots a glare at him.

"No judgement," he says. "I'm just commending you for having such an active sex life."

"Jasper, I swear to god," she says.

"Go to bed," he says. "You need some sleep. Or sex. Unless of course, Bellamy's not fulfilling your needs. The stress of running a camp, it can get to a man."

Clarke scoffs, but stands up anyway. "Yeah, well, it doesn't get to mine."

And then she heads to Bellamy's tent, totally confused about why she said that.

When she enters, he's sitting on the floor, shirtless, inspecting a tear in his jacket.

"Hey," he says, getting up and setting aside the garment.

"Hey," she says.

"Oh, um, they finally finished that mock toothpaste stuff," he says, turning around to get something from his table. "It's probably pretty disgusting, but..."

He passes her a cup with an admittedly nice-smelling but sort of putrid looking substance in it, and one of Monty's makeshift toothbrushes, which are basically just sticks with a bunch of plastic bristles stuck on one end.

Clarke and Bellamy brush their teeth in silence, side by side and barely looking at each other. When they're done, they spit out the substance just outside Bellamy's tent door, and have a sip of water each.

They head back inside the tent, and Bellamy turns to Clarke.

"Uh, I can turn around or leave if you want to get changed," he says.

Clarke almost smiles, because they've come such a long way from that night in the car and 'just imagine I'm Finn'. "If you could just turn around, that'd be good."

He obliges, and she starts taking off her boots, glancing up at him every few seconds to make sure his back is still turned. She strips off her pants, her jacket, her shirt and the infamous black bra, and then picks up the shirt to put it back on. She doesn't have pants to sleep in, but Bellamy's seen her in less, so she's not really that worried.

"I'm done," she says.

He turns around and looks at her, raising an eyebrow. "Um..."

She looks down, and realises that she's put on his shirt instead of hers.

"Shit, sorry," she says, feeling the heat rush to her cheeks. "I meant to put mine back on, but it's dark and..."

"It's fine," he says. "You can wear it."

He helps collect her clothes and fold them, and it's all so damn domestic, brushing their teeth together and tidying together and her wearing his shirt, that she can hardly wait to just get into bed and not have to look at him for the rest of the night.

Within a few minutes, they're both in their respective beds - well, his is just a blanket on the ground and another blanket on top of him - and Clarke thinks she might actually be able to get to sleep, if Bellamy would just stop shifting and grunting.

"We can switch, if you want," she tells him.

"No, I'm fine," he says.

"You don't sound fine," she says. "Seriously, let's switch."

"We don't need to," he says finally. "I'll just get in the bed."

She stares up at the roof of the tent, thinking she must have heard him wrong, but then he's standing up, dusting off the blankets he was using and folding them, and turning to her.

"We've done it before, right?" he says.

Clarke is sort of shocked for a second, because that's basically the first time they've acknowledged that night in the car since the whole bra fiasco, but then she nods, sliding over to make room for him in the bed. Despite her best efforts, though, it's a one-person bed and Bellamy takes up a lot of room, so they end up both hanging off their respective sides of it and struggling not to fall off.

"Look," Bellamy says, sitting up. "You're gonna have to get on top of me."

Clarke swallows, and then stands up. "Um, okay."

He lies back down, properly this time, and then looks at her expectantly. "Well?"

She gets back onto the bed, adjusting herself so that she's half on Bellamy and half on the bed, leg hitched up over him, arm draped across his waist and head resting on his chest. He reaches down to pull the blanket up over them, and his fingers brush her thigh on the way up, making her shiver.

It's all so reminiscent of that night in the car, with the one exception, Clarke notes, that this isn't about health or staving off hypothermia. There are many alternatives. Clarke could just go to her tent and sleep there, or bring in her bed. Nobody's forcing them to do this.

Bellamy's arm moves to rest on her back, and his head tilts so that it's resting on the top of hers, and just for a moment, Clarke lets herself enjoy being close to him. No reminding herself that it's fake, no pulling away or tightening up. She just sighs, content, and nestles in closer.


	5. been wondering if your heart's still open (and if so i wanna know what time it shuts)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ADULT CONTENT. VERY ADULT CONTENT. FUCK. also - they don't really talk about contraception in the show so i just sort of assumed they had a kind of contraceptive implant in the arm thing happening. still. i wish they'd address it.

"The grounders want to meet to talk about a truce."

Bellamy looks up. He's in his tent, about to start getting ready to sleep - he's been waiting for Clarke, actually, because since they've started sharing a tent, getting ready together has sort of become a nightly routine. He's already taken off his shoes.

Octavia looks at him. "Well? Come on, Bell."

He gets up, not bothering to put his shoes back on, and follows her out of the tent and into the dropship, where Clarke, Finn, Jasper, Miller, Raven and Monty are standing in a circle. Octavia and Bellamy join them.

"When is this supposed to be happening?" Bellamy asks.

"Tomorrow," Clarke says. "They want to meet at the bridge at dawn."

"Okay," Bellamy says. "Clarke and I will talk to them, Jasper, Miller and Raven, you're back-up."

"They said they only want the leader to come," Monty says.

"So Clarke and I will talk, and the rest of you can hang back out of sight in case something goes down," Bellamy says.

"Not you," Octavia says. "Just Clarke. Without backup."

He turns to Clarke. "No. No way."

"Bellamy, this is a chance to make peace with the grounders," she says. "We can't afford for it to go wrong. This could save our people. I'm going."

"What if it's a trap?" he asks. "We can't just blindly trust that they're not going to try anything."

"They can't trust us either," she says. "If they even see one of you in the trees, it'll ruin everything."

"Clarke, they could kill you."

"I have to believe that they won't."

"That's ridiculous!"

"Bellamy," Clarke snaps. "I know what I'm doing, okay? A truce only works if one side is willing to put down the weapons first and hope that the other side does the same."

Bellamy steps towards her. "There is no fucking way-"

"Okay," Finn interrupts, stepping between them. "We're not getting anywhere here. Octavia and I are on watch, so we'll wake you guys up an hour before dawn and talk about it then. I think everyone needs some sleep."

Bellamy steps back, still simmering with anger, and nods. He almost waits for Clarke, but then he sees her in the corner talking to Finn and Octavia, and he storms out of the dropship, trying to remain calm and not start shooting into the sky or kicking things. He heads into his tent and paces back and forth. He's half convinced that Clarke's not even going to come tonight - she doesn't really need to, people would believe that they're angry enough at each other to sleep in seperate tents - but just as he's brushed his teeth, she comes in.

He watches silently as she takes off her shoes, brushes her teeth and gargles water. Then the real fight begins.

"You're not going," Bellamy says, considerably calmer. He's made his decision. He's just not going to let her. He'll lock her in the dropship if he has to.

"Don't tell me what to do," Clarke says. "I'm going and you can't stop me.

"Believe me, I can," he says. "I will."

She steps in closer and jabs him with her finger. "You are not going to hold me prisoner like some fucking child who doesn't know what she's doing."

"You _don't_ know what you're doing."

"It's my life, Bellamy," she shouts. "I can make my own damn decisions, and I've made this one."

"You're going to get yourself killed," he says.

"Fine," she says. "At least it'll be on my terms."

"Are you seriously willing to put yourself in mortal danger on the off chance that those savages might want a truce?" Bellamy asks.

"They're not savages, and yes!" she says. She's inches away from him now.

"God, you're so fucking stubborn," he says.

Clarke scoffs. "Coming from you? That's rich."

"Can you just shut up for one damn minute?"

"Make me, asshole."

For a moment, there's nothing but the sound of their breathing, heavy with anger and tension. And then they're kissing.

He doesn't know which one of them leans in first, or who puts their arms around the other first, he doesn't know who properly initiates it, but he honestly doesn't care, he just wants more, he just wants her to be closer. He's got his hands on her waist, gripping her tightly, and then he's pushing her against the table, hearing things clatter to the ground and not giving a damn.

He starts a trail of kisses and bites down her jaw and onto her neck, relishing the sounds he receives in return - little moans and gasps that kickstart something inside him, something so ferocious it takes him by surprise - as she flings her arm out to wipe off the rest of the crap from his table. Then her hands come to rest at his shoulders and she's tugging at his jacket. He lets go of her for a moment to shrug it off and remove his shirt, but then his hands are back on her, roaming from her hips to her waist and then under her shirt, tracing her ribs and then the underwire of her bra.

Clarke shoves at him lightly, and he's thinking for a second that he's gone too far, he's pushed too much and now this one moment, this one real night they might've had is gone, but then she's pulling off her own shirt and flinging it across the room. He pushes her down gently so she's lying on the table, and starts pressing kisses down her collarbone as his hands pull her up again, just slightly, to find the clasp of her bra and undo it. He lets her back down and pulls the bra down by the straps before tossing it aside and bringing his mouth down on hers again.

She responds eagerly as her hands guide his to her breasts. He cups them and then squeezes gently, and she moans into his mouth, gripping his shoulders tightly. He pulls away from her lips so he can close his mouth around her left breast. When he bites down a little, her back arches off the table and she lets out this guttural groan that almost makes Bellamy lose his fucking mind. He latches onto the other breast and does the same thing, just to get that response again.

Clarke's fingers are trembling but firm as they pull down her pants, and he kisses down her stomach as he helps her get them off completely and discard them. When he's done, his lips stop just above the fabric of her underwear. He keeps his eyes locked on hers as he slowly pulls them down and lets his mouth take their place.

"God," she whispers, and he almost responds, almost says everything he's been wanting to say for the past few weeks, but the moment is so perfect, _she's_ so fucking perfect, that he can't bring himself to, so he just mouths the words into her, which sends her writhing and moaning on the table. She gets louder as he starts using his tongue just enough to bring her to the edge but not quite enough to send her over.

When he thinks she might explode if he continues another second, he pulls away, kissing both of her thighs, and then looking up at her.

"Do you have a..."

He trails off, hoping she'll get what he means - he knows he has to ask but he just really doesn't want to use the words 'contraceptive implant', it sounds so fucking clinical - and when she nods her head vehemently, he sighs with relief and takes off his pants. Before he can continue, she sits up, pulls him closer to her and kisses him again, hand slipping into his underwear and making him cry out against her lips. She uses her other hand to pull down his underwear, and then they both stop.

They are seconds, _inches_ from this, and they've both just stopped, staring at each other and breathing heavily. Bellamy searches her eyes for doubt or worry or any sign of discomfort, but finds none.

"I need you," Clarke says after a moment, and it takes him aback, because it sounds like so much more than just a phrase uttered between two people in the heat of the moment, it sounds like something to say to someone you love, it sounds like she really means it.

When he presses his lips to hers, it's the most gentle kiss they've ever had, and they don't stop kissing even as he lays her back on the table and guides himself to her entrance. There's a pause, and then she nods, and he enters her and honest to god, he nearly fucking cries.

Never in a million years could he have dreamed that it would feel like this. It's so fucking shocking and it feels so fucking good that it takes him a little longer than it normally would to get a rhythm going, but when he does, he gets lost in it, as her nails dig into his back and her breath hitches.  
It's almost too much, the feel of being inside her and so much skin pressed against skin, her lips ghosting against his shoulder as she says his name over and over like a prayer.

“Did it feel like this with Finn?” Bellamy asks quietly, because he can't fucking resist.

“God,” she chokes out. “No.”

He doesn't even try to hide the smirk, just angles himself a bit better so he can go deeper and kisses the top of her head.

Bellamy's not sure how long they're there for - it feels like hours, but then it also feels like only a few moments, because it's so all-consuming and fleeting at the same time - but when he comes, just a few moments after her, he crashes down, kissing her with abandon and gripping the edge of the table, because he's worried if he grabs her, he might break something.

They stay like that for a few minutes, completely spent and exhausted, before he pulls her up and carries her to the bed, where they collapse on top of each other, blanket haphazardly thrown on top of them, chests still heaving even as they drift to sleep.


	6. crawling back to you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so. last part. switches POV a bit, hope it's not confusing. anyway thanks to everyone who's left kudos and that kind of stuff, i really enjoyed writing this (mostly because it allowed me to escape the angsty real world in which clarke left camp jaha and bellamy looked like his soul had been crushed and i sobbed for several days).

Clarke is woken by a light tap on her shoulder, followed by a significantly less light shove. She opens her eyes and sees Octavia standing by the bed, fully dressed and smirking. Clarke instantly remembers the events of the previous night - namely, the mindblowing sex - and cranes her head to see Bellamy behind her, arm draped around her waist, still deep in sleep.

"Come on, get dressed," Octavia whispers. "We're leaving in five."

Then she tiptoes out of the tent so Clarke can carefully extract herself from Bellamy and put on her clothes as quietly as possible. Before Clarke leaves, she takes a long look at Bellamy, who looks younger and more peaceful than she's ever seen him. She knows she's made a mistake. A big one, in fact. Sleeping with Bellamy was a stupid thing to do, not just because of her feelings for him, but because of how this whole situation is going to affect the camp. They're supposed to be leading the camp together, making the rules and the hard decisions. How are they supposed to do that now?

Eventually, it hurts too much to keep looking at him, so Clarke leaves, willing herself not to look back at him.

She should feel bad about lying to the others. The idea was to make decisions collectively, to trust each other, but honestly, in this situation, Clarke has no qualms whatsoever about leaving Bellamy and the others out of this. When Finn and Octavia had pulled her aside to tell her about the plan to wake up before the others so she could meet the grounders alone, her first thought had been to consult Bellamy. Doing something so drastic without telling him just seemed like betrayal.

But then when she'd come to his - their? - tent to bring up the subject and he'd immediately dismissed her opinions and basically ordered her not to go, the guilt subsided and was replaced with anger. Yes, she does trust him, and yes, she believes that he's a good leader and he has the camp's best interests at heart, and yes, she has stupid, stupid fucking feelings for him, but she is Clarke fucking Griffin and Bellamy does not dictate what she can and cannot do.

She knows that meeting the grounders is the right thing to do. They can't go on like this, killing and hunting each other, fighting a constant battle that will only end in death and loss and more death. God knows they've had enough of that to go around.

Clarke walks through the camp, carefully so she doesn't run into anything and wake everyone up - it's almost dawn, but it's still fairly dark and it's hard to make out anything more than a few feet in front of her - until she reaches the gate, where Octavia and Finn are standing.

"You sure you can do this?" Finn asks.

Clarke looks at him, eyebrows raised. "We don't really have any other options, do we?"

"Okay, according to Lincoln, they're bringing weapons," Octavia says.

Finn turns to Octavia. "What? That wasn't part of the deal."

"It's just a safety precaution," Octavia says. "In case she tries something."

"She's not going to!"

"But they don't know that."

"What if it is a trap?" Clarke asks.

"It's not," Octavia says.

"We don't know that," Finn says.

"You sound like Bellamy," Octavia mutters.

Finn frowns. "We're talking about Clarke's life, here."

"You know, I'm standing right here," Clarke says. "And I'm going anyway."

"What the hell is going on?"

Clarke winces. She knows before she turns around who's going to be standing there, but she turns all the same.

"Bell," Octavia says with a sigh, like she knew all along he'd figure this out.

"I can't believe you're trying to pull this shit," Bellamy says. "I can't believe you're going behind everyone else's back to endanger Clarke's life."

"Still standing right here!" Clarke says.

"We wouldn't have had to do this if you weren't so difficult about this whole thing," Finn says.

"Difficult?" Bellamy repeats. "Fuck, excuse me for not wanting to send my girlfriend, alone and unarmed, into what is obviously a grounder trap."

"I need to talk to Bellamy alone," Clarke says.

"Clarke-" Finn tries.

"I'm serious, Finn, go," she says. She doesn't even look at Octavia or Finn as they head off in the direction of the dropship, she just keeps her eyes locked on Bellamy.

"I'm not your girlfriend," Clarke says, voice just above a whisper.

Bellamy almost looks wounded for a second, but then his face hardens again and he rolls his eyes. "Obviously, princess. I was just playing my part."

"Well, stop," she snaps. "I don't want to do this anymore. I'm calling it off."

Bellamy's lips part a little. His eyebrows knit together, his eyes widen.

This is not the time to have this conversation, she's aware of that, but she's also aware that one person can only take so much fucking heartbreak in the space of a few months, and if losing Finn hurt so much, even though she never really had him in the first place, what is losing Bellamy going to do to her? She doesn't want to find out, but she also doesn't want to drag this out any longer.

"Clarke-"

"I don't know what last night mean to you, if it even meant anything at all," she says, and the next words come out before she can stop them. "But I need you to know that - before I go, I need you to know that it meant something to me. Because I have feelings for you."

And when he looks at her, she starts hoping that the meeting with the grounders today really is a trap, that they attack her on sight and she never makes it back to camp, because god, the look on his face - shock, horror, maybe pity - it makes her think maybe dying is the best option here.

Before he can respond and put them both through the agony of witnessing him rejecting her, there's a scream from the dropship and they look over to see Octavia on the ground, Finn kneeling at her side looking panicked. Barely a second passes and Bellamy's sprinting over there, shouting his sister's name, probably waking up the entire camp. Clarke's about to follow when Finn looks her dead in the eye and mouths 'run', and suddenly it all makes sense and Clarke is off, out the gate and through the woods, unsure of what's scarier: what she's running from or what she's running to.

~ ~ ~

He's at her side in seconds, dropping to his knees and shouting her name, resisting the urge to shake her shoulders because he knows that might hurt her. He's so caught up in the panic and the adrenaline - and he's also still kind of reeling from what just happened with Clarke - that it takes him a good while longer than it should to realise that they've tricked him.

"Fuck!" he shouts. A few people have come out of their tents to glare at him, but he shoots them back an even harsher look and they quickly retreat back to bed.

"Bellamy," Octavia says, sitting up and looking at him. "I'm sorry, it had to be done."

"I can't believe you," he says, looking around for a gun. He needs to go now if he wants to catch up with Clarke before she gets to the grounders. "I can't believe you would betray me like that."

"I didn't want to," she says. "You're the one being so damn unreasonable."

He quickly finds a gun - a voice in his head that sounds a lot like Clarke reminds him that it probably shouldn't be lying around and they need to be more careful about that kind of stuff - and heads toward the gate. "I'm going after her."

Finn runs to catch up and block Bellamy from the gate. "No, you're not."

"Get the hell out of my way, spacewalker," Bellamy says.

"If you show up with a gun, you'll ruin the whole thing," Finn says. "They'll think you're attacking and they'll retaliate."

Bellamy turns to Octavia, who's a few feet behind him. "They have weapons?"

She looks at her feet for a second, and then nods.

"Jesus christ," he mutters, trying to push past Finn. The man shoves him back, and then all of a sudden Bellamy's pointing the gun at him.

"Put the gun down, Bellamy!" Octavia says.

"Get out of my way, Finn," Bellamy says.

"You need to let her do this," Finn says.

"I swear to god."

"You can't control her!"

"I never told her!" Bellamy almost explodes. His hands are shaking. "She's walking right into what's probably a trap. What if she gets hurt, or - or... and I never fucking told her that I..."

Finn is looking at him, sort of in shock, but also like he understands. There's a long pause, and then he holds out his hands.

"Give me the gun," he says.

"No fucking way," Bellamy growls.

"Bellamy," Octavia says behind him. "The longer you wait, the longer it's gonna take you to get to her."

Bellamy stands there, gripping his gun tightly and glancing behind Finn, like if he looks hard enough he'll see Clarke off in the distance. After a long moment, he shoves the gun into Finn's hands and pushes past him easily before breaking into a run and heading in the direction of the bridge, hoping to the god he's never really believed in that he's not going to be too late.

~ ~ ~

The light is just breaking over the tops of the trees when Bellamy catches sight of the bridge. He's panting a little as he ducks behind one of the larger bushes, searching for Clarke. He moves a little closer so he can see better, and catches sight of Clarke talking to the woman who must be the leader of the grounder tribe. Neither of them look too angry or hostile, but the sight of half a dozen grounders on horses a few feet behind the grounder woman puts Bellamy on edge. More than half of them are holding weapons that look like they could do some serious damage.

Bellamy makes a note to punch Finn - possibly in the face - when they get back to camp for insisting on taking Bellamy's gun, and then he starts carefully making his way down to the bridge, keeping his eyes locked on Clarke.

He's a few feet away when he sees the grounder woman get out a knife, and that sends him running.

"Clarke!" he shouts, and Clarke turns to look at him in shock. He sees a few of the warriors raise their weapons into the air, but to his surprise, before he can reach Clarke and throw himself in front of her, the grounder leader holds her hand out behind her, halting the warrior's movements. Just to be safe, when Bellamy gets to Clarke, he grabs her arm and pulls her so she's standing slightly behind him. The grounder woman is still holding out her knife.

"Bellamy, I'm fine," Clarke says.

"Your husband has no reason to be worried," Anya says, and neither Bellamy or Clarke jump to correct her. "I will not hurt either of you."

"The knife is a show of a good faith," Clarke explains to Bellamy. "Anya giving it to me means that the war between our tribes is on hold until we can come to a proper agreement. It's like a contract."

"So do we have a truce or not?" Bellamy asks.

"We will see," Anya says. "Your people have caused my people great suffering."

" _You_ attacked _us_ first," Bellamy says.

"There has been loss on both sides," Clarke says. "We are aware of that, and we accept the consequences for what we have done."

"Good," Anya says, and Bellamy frowns. He's about to retort that they've done the same amount of damage when Clarke places a hand on his chest, as if she knows what he's about to say.

"For now, there will be peace," she says.

"For now," Anya says, and passes Clarke the knife. "We will organise another meeting and discuss this truce further."

"May we meet again," Clarke says. Anya looks at her strangely. "It's a saying among sky people."

Anya nods. "Well, then. May we meet again. Farewell, king and queen of the sky people."

As they watch Anya walk back to her horse, Bellamy can't resist slipping his hand into Clarke's.

~ ~ ~

Clarke continues to watch as every last grounder leaves, but she knows she's just delaying the inevitable. Eventually she turns to Bellamy, fully prepared for what's about to happen between them.

"I'm so fucking pissed at you," is how he starts, which is either a really good sign or a really bad one, she can never tell with him. "How stupid do you have to be to pull this kind of shit? I'm honestly curious. Tell me."

"Excuse me?" Clarke says. "It worked, didn't it? We have peace with the grounders-"

"With this particular tribe, not with all of them," Bellamy interrupts.

"We have a truce in the works-"

"That's not a sure thing."

"Did you not see the peace knife?" Clarke asks, waving the knife in his face. "Can't you just admit that I made the right decision in coming here?"

"It was a stupid thing to do," Bellamy says.

"Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that it was the right thing to do," she says.

"It sort of does."

"No it doesn't."

"God, you're a pain in my ass."

She points the knife at him menacingly. "Watch it. I will stab you with this peace knife, I don't care how ironic it'll be."

He grins a little, and she relishes in it, the way the worry lines and stress just leave his face when he smiles. But of course, that brings up all these feelings - feelings that Bellamy now _knows about_ \- and she immediately sobers up.

"Clarke," he says. "I need to tell you something."

"Look, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable before," she says. "I didn't - I didn't mean to say it that way. Or at all, really. And I know it makes things weird between us, but we can't let it affect the camp. If you want me to stay away, I get it. If you want me to... I don't know, I don't know what I can do to make this better."

"You can shut up and let me talk," Bellamy suggests. She opens her mouth and then closes it a second later, nodding a little. "Clarke, I... look. You irritate me basically all the time. You're stubborn and controlling and hot-headed, and-"

"You are literally all of those things as well!" Clarke says.

"Oh my fucking god, would you just let me finish? I was about to say that... that I don't care, because I like that about you. I like that you don't give up without a fight and that you care about people and... look, christ, I like you, okay?"

She looks at him.

He throws his head back.

"God, this is so fucking lame," he says. "I like you, Clarke. I have feelings for you too."

Clarke's confusion morphs into shock, and then just pure, unadulterated joy, and she breaks out into a grin that Bellamy soon mirrors, and she doesn't stop smiling even as he kisses her, even as they refuse to break apart, even as the sun slowly rises around them, filling the air with light.

~ ~ ~

Fake dating Bellamy has nothing on actually dating Bellamy.

Like, the way he always wakes up before her but then stays in bed until she's awake just so her first moments of the day are comfortable and warm. And the way they share brief touches throughout the day while they're running around taking care of everyone and making sure the camp runs smoothly, little squeezes of shoulders or kisses on foreheads that keep them both sane amidst the madness that is their lives. And even the way they argue just the same as they used to, because they're still both so stubborn and angry and sure that they're right, but now the heat between them can be channeled into something a hell of a lot more fun.

Clarke thinks that maybe, one day, they'll tell everyone how this actually happened, the whole ridiculous story, when it's something the others will be able to laugh about rather than get angry over, but for now, it's their secret, and if their friends notice that something about Clarke and Bellamy's relationship is different - _better_ \- they don't say anything.  
There's still the same amount of crap going on. This truce with the grounders is taking longer to arrange than they'd expected, and they're trying to stay in communication with ark while simultaneously preparing to stand their ground when the people who locked them up come back down to earth, and there's winter to worry about and other grounder tribes and fights and hard decisions and just a really long road ahead of them, but honestly, Clarke's not worried.


End file.
